A Modern Take on the Classic Zombie Genre

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2009)

Zombie movies need something fresh to keep my attention and Danny Boyle has done just that. Instead of the stereotypical shambling undead, Boyle has put his own spin on the genre, avoiding complete cliché while still paying homage to the zombie masters that came before him. The film establishes itself 28 days following an outbreak in London of the rage virus, a mutated form of Ebola passed through blood and saliva in which afflicted become mindlessly violent. The infected are still living and fully mobile, but they appear to lose all higher brain functions and rely solely on aggressive instinct. So, the "zombies" in Boyle's film retain some of the classic attributes (such as their brainless nature and the attacks on the uninfected) while integrating a modern scientific angle, playing on the current societal fears of disease and biological weapons.
While the movie can be considered a zombie film, I would classify it more as a survival thriller. The focus isn't as much as surviving waves of infected, but follows a group of four as they make their way through a desolate English landscape, avoiding the infected as best as possible and dealing with an even greater danger when they encounter an isolated military outpost. The concept of humans being more dangerous than the infected isn't new, but Boyle does a great job here and it creates a tense final act to the film.
Cillian Murphy was great as the main character, Jim, who we first discover as he awakes from a coma and finds the entire city eerily deserted (making for one of the coolest sequences in the film). He is soon joined by Selena (Naomie Harris), Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and Frank's daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). Gleeson always makes for a great film presence and Harris was a strong counter to Murphy's optimistic outlook. I found the greatest performance came from Christopher Eccleston as Major Henry West, the head of the military outpost. He comes off as charming and you want to trust him in his position of authority but you soon find he is as corrupt as those who follow his orders.
Boyle's film is a zombie film without being a zombie film. The cast do a good job of creating complex characters and you always find yourself hoping they pull through. Boyle's film helped pave the way for the modern zombie cinema, in which the iconic masses aren't necessarily slow-shambling flesh-eaters, but frighteningly effective animals. 28 DAYS LATER is light on scares, but instead focuses on the suspense and tension around finding yourself in such an apocalyptic scenario and for that, I think it's great.